Summary:
Zip code 43207 on Columbus's south side is home to four high schools enrolling about 1,872 students: Hamilton Township High School, Focus Learning Academy of Southwestern Columbus, Marion-Franklin High School, and Columbus Scioto 6-12. Hamilton, Focus, and Marion-Franklin serve grades 9–12, while Scioto serves grades 6–12, so its middle-school results are not directly comparable to the others.
Hamilton Township High School is the relative bright spot in this group. It has the highest graduation rate (90.6%), the lowest chronic absenteeism (43.5%), and the strongest test scores, including 84.3% proficiency in American Government versus the state's 71.6%. Even so, its rank slipped to 30th percentile with 1 star in 2025–26, and its Biology, Geometry, and Algebra I scores all fell sharply. Focus Learning Academy of Southwestern Columbus is the most challenged: a 31.7% graduation rate, 89.6% chronic absenteeism, a student/teacher ratio of 61.5, and test scores 32–45 points below the state in every reported subject. Marion-Franklin High School posts a 75.5% graduation rate and improved in five of six subjects year over year, though it remains far below state proficiency. Columbus Scioto 6-12 is tiny, with 92 students and the lowest student/teacher ratio (4.6), but very low outcomes.
Two problems affect every school here. Chronic absenteeism is high across the board — the median school has about 8 in 10 students chronically absent — and math is the weakest subject, with no school reaching the state average in Algebra I or Geometry. Spending and class size do not track simply with results; Columbus City Schools District schools spend more than Hamilton Local per student but score lower, and the smallest class sizes belong to a low-performing school. Free/reduced-lunch data are unavailable for all four schools, and spending figures date to 2018–19 and are missing for Focus, so comparisons should be made cautiously.
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